International

US Lawmaker: Preemptive Strike Option Inevitable

U.S. House Intelligence Committee chief says the U.S. should be ready to take preemptive measures on North Korea as the regime gets closer to having a deliverable nuclear weapon.

During an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Congressman Devin Nunes said he hopes the situation will not worsen to the point where the U.S. needs to consider preemptive attacks but having the option available is inevitable.

While calling the North “a completely unhinged regime,” Nunes expressed his satisfaction with U.S. State Secretary Rex Tillerson's announcement that Washington's strategic patience policy toward Pyongyang had ended.

Tillerson said during a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se in Seoul on Friday that the U.S. does not want to see its confrontations with the North escalate into the military ones. However, he warned that Washington will take action if the North’s threat against the South Korean military or the U.S. Forces Korea reaches a certain point.